“Why should they get disability allowance? They seem absolutely fine”, “If they can walk, they can work, right?”, “Why should we be paying our hard-earned money to those who can’t be bothered to work?” – you’d never dream of saying these things out loud, would you?
Featured image © The Queer Historian
Unfortunately, as disabled performer and writer Tommy (aka the Queer Historian) has discovered, people do. To prove it, and to explore the damage that these comments have on people, he has created a show where three disabled people take to the stage and read out comments like these to a live audience. These people have no previous experience in performance.
How Disabled Are You? is a important, raw and fragile play, debuting at the prestigious Brighton Fringe festival over four dates in May and is the latest work from award-winning writer, Tommy. It aims to empower those with – both hidden and visible – disabilities, whose words are often not heard, over the loud opinions of trashy tabloids and outdated assumptions.
© The Queer Historian
How Disabled Are You? was born out of Tommy’s personal experience of changes to the benefits system. “It was found that 47% of people receiving Disability Living Allowance had their benefits reduced or stop altogether*, with the introduction of the Personal Independent Payment (PIP) and the questionable reassessment process.” Tommy was one of the many people whose essential benefits were taken away without warning.
“In 2017 my disability benefits were stripped away from me for nine months with no just cause. My life went on pause. I had to borrow from friends to live and fought as hard as my mental health would allow me to, to get them back. The authorities constantly asked me how ‘disabled’ I was and to ‘prove’ my disability through unjust, menial and cruel practices. It nearly destroyed me.”
How Disabled Are You? will be performed on Friday 3rd May and Saturday 4th May, Friday 17th May and Saturday 18th May at 4:30pm at Junkyard Dogs: The Doghouse at Brighthelm Centre, North Road, Brighton, BN1 1YD. Tickets cost £9.50 / £8 (concession) and will be available via www.brightonfringe.org and 01273 917 272.
It’s about what happens when we hear other people’s voices and opinions outside our own echo chamber. It’s about a deeper understanding and empowerment that I’m trying to give myself as a disabled artist and my community whose voices are always marginalised.
“I’d love people to come who believe that the benefits system in the UK is useless. I’d like to open their eyes and educate them on their perceptions which are usually only informed by the press. To see how real people, like myself, who rely on the system cope from day to day. It’s important this show is informative and challenging.”
